Short Breaks

Please see our full range of Short Breaks offered by the Buzz Network ranging from One2one Support, Play Schemes and Community Based Activities offered at subsidised rates.

Short Breaks provide children and young people with disabilities or additional needs an opportunity to spend time away from their parents, engage in fun activities and enjoy time with their friends. They offer parents/carers a break from their caring responsibilities and time to spend with other family members and to catch-up on other daily tasks.

Short breaks are provided at two different levels:

The Buzz Network - this is funded and run by the council and offers play/activity schemes, 1:1 individual support (called the One2One service) and access to a range of community based activities such as youth, sports and leisure schemes. The eligibility criteria for the network is quite wide so that as many children and young people can benefit from the network as possible.

Specialist, social care assessed short breaks - these are assessed and funded by the Jigsaw service and provided to those children and young people with the highest need for support in the city.

The main difference between these two levels is that the Buzz network has a self-assessment eligibility whilst the specialist short breaks are allocated on an individual level, following a more detailed social care assessment.

You can currently only be assessed for specialist short breaks if your meet the Jigsaw eligibility criteria.

The Southampton 'Short Break Statement' provides more detailed information on the current range of short break services, the eligibility criteria and how to access them. Southampton City Council working in partnership with Southampton Parent Carer Forum are currently reviewing the Short Breaks Offer and will update this document, early in 2018.

Useful Information

A personal budget is a clear, upfront amount of money identified by the Local Authority that can be used to arrange some of the support that has been agreed in your child or young persons Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP). The amount that your child/young person gets depends on the…

Support for Children, Young People & Young Adults with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Southampton. Schools and other educational settings are expected to help most children overcome the hurdles their difficulties present as part of meeting their educational needs, but a much smaller number…

Please do not change the value of the following field. It is used to detect spam and changing its value may result in your submission being rejectedPlease do not change the value of the following field. It is used to detect spam and changing its value may result in your submission being rejected

Please provide feedback on our website. Try to include any constructive suggestions for improvements and we will do our best to incorporate them.